Louie Gohmert's Capitol tour

I already liked Louie Gohmert (R-TX) a lot, but after reading about the tours he provides for constituents, I realize I have underrated him. Andrew Evans of the Washington Free Beacon "tagged along" with the congressman as he guided constituents on a multi-hour personal tour of the Capitol. Read the whole thing, but here is a sample.

Congressman Gohmert isn't your typical tour guide. Only a few congressmen actually give their own tours, Gohmert told me. Fewer tour guides have the depth of knowledge of the Capitol that Gohmert has. And fewer still have the access to the Capitol that he gave the group.

The tour began with Gohmert taking the group onto the floor of the House of Representatives. He let us sit in the first couple of rows of seats as he stood between two lecterns and talked to us, still wearing his buttoned black suit jacket and occasionally running his hand over his bald pate. He explained some of the mechanics of his job: where people sit, what walls light up showing how the representatives have voted, how he casts his vote.

Someone asked Gohmert if there is anywhere in the Capitol that he hasn't been. "The crawl space underneath," he said, shrugging.

Gohmert's explained to the group the origin of a hole in the ceiling of the House Chamber (a bullet hole from when Puerto Rican nationalists stormed the room), where a fresco by "the only classically trained fresco painter in America" at the time used to be in the House and why it was gone, and the origin of partisan seating arrangements in the House (it came from the British House of Commons).

He told us about Nancy Reagan's objection to the sculptor of her husband's statue having put a vent in his suit jacket, pointed out where Abraham Lincoln sat in the old House chamber, and explained, in great detail, how John Quincy Adams influenced Lincoln's fight against slavery. He also told us why Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen from New Hampshire has a different desk from all the other senators while we were standing next to the desk on the Senate floor.

I already liked Louie Gohmert (R-TX) a lot, but after reading about the tours he provides for constituents, I realize I have underrated him. Andrew Evans of the Washington Free Beacon "tagged along" with the congressman as he guided constituents on a multi-hour personal tour of the Capitol. Read the whole thing, but here is a sample.

Congressman Gohmert isn't your typical tour guide. Only a few congressmen actually give their own tours, Gohmert told me. Fewer tour guides have the depth of knowledge of the Capitol that Gohmert has. And fewer still have the access to the Capitol that he gave the group.

The tour began with Gohmert taking the group onto the floor of the House of Representatives. He let us sit in the first couple of rows of seats as he stood between two lecterns and talked to us, still wearing his buttoned black suit jacket and occasionally running his hand over his bald pate. He explained some of the mechanics of his job: where people sit, what walls light up showing how the representatives have voted, how he casts his vote.

Someone asked Gohmert if there is anywhere in the Capitol that he hasn't been. "The crawl space underneath," he said, shrugging.

Gohmert's explained to the group the origin of a hole in the ceiling of the House Chamber (a bullet hole from when Puerto Rican nationalists stormed the room), where a fresco by "the only classically trained fresco painter in America" at the time used to be in the House and why it was gone, and the origin of partisan seating arrangements in the House (it came from the British House of Commons).

He told us about Nancy Reagan's objection to the sculptor of her husband's statue having put a vent in his suit jacket, pointed out where Abraham Lincoln sat in the old House chamber, and explained, in great detail, how John Quincy Adams influenced Lincoln's fight against slavery. He also told us why Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen from New Hampshire has a different desk from all the other senators while we were standing next to the desk on the Senate floor.